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Halo: Antediluvian
{|style="width:100%; color:#FFF;" |valign="top" style="padding:5px;" class="aaopage"| Story Prologue "Faster dammit!" The instructor continued to yell at Sebastian. Panting, he did as he was told and obeyed with more faster push ups. The instructor surrounded his personal space and walked in circles like a shark around bait. Sebastian's determination not to disappoint kicked in and improved his stance quickly when the marine came in sight. "Sit ups! 200, now!" Sebastian turned over and began his sit ups. He started to become slower by the moment until the instructor stared into his face. Ignoring the very intimidating look, he continued his sit ups. The man's tag hung above Sebastian's knee. MCPO Johann. Wondering why the petty officer didn't reference his name and rank before, Sebastian stared at his boots and focused on getting the sit ups correct. "Sebastian. If you're going to become the ultimate soldier I assure you, the enemy will not say hello! No mercy! And if you show mercy, I guarantee you than you will be shot at and will die. If you start getting your shit together, you will bring The Covenant and their damned Great Journey to the gates of hell. Am I right, soldier!?" "Yes sir!" A few minutes had passed and Sebastian was finished. As he got up, Johann walked away to an exit. "Get your gear on, soldier. We're going on for a stroll in thirty minutes. Exact!" Sebastian nodded and jogged to his room. He sat on his bed and gazed around the fairly large area. It looked more like a prison cell than a bedroom but Sebastian didn't mind the claustrophobic atmosphere. Remembering the stories of soldiers called SPARTAN-IIs, Sebastian daydreamed about being a SPARTAN-II. All that training and teamwork, Sebastian never had a friend during a whole three years; let alone having never seen another child in three years. He suddenly looked at his watch, it was already 7:23. The 'stroll' was in seven minutes. Quickly, Sebastian opened his slidedrobe and changed his clothes. A pile of dirty sweaty clothes were on the bed and a clean uniform was put on. It comfortably fitted Sebastian smoothly. He turned on his holo-mirror and stared at himself. His nicely trimmed hair, firm face and steady stance. He might have been an eight year-old child but Sebastian looked like a 16 year-old teenager. Running through the training course and flying over the various obstacles. He finally saw a a roughly dark figure in the distance. Hands behind the back, full straight up stance. Sebastian knew this was Johann, not a random marine. Chapter 1: Death from Above "Houston building twenty clicks. Get ready SPARTAN." Echo 426 focused on his console and tapped a few controls. A fairly large and strangely shaped building came into few from the heavy fog that occupied outside. The SPARTAN stepped back into the cargo bay and sat down again. The very small gleam of light from the Pelican's rear window made the bay look exceptionally dark. The SPARTAN took his MJOLNIR reconnaissance helmet off and stared into its reflective visor. The young man with short trimmed hair and little facial hair was the only thing seen in the helmet's mirror. Of course, it was none other than Sebastian. Carefully placing his helmet on the seat next to him, Sebastian got up and stared through the rear window. The planet of Hao IX had beautiful architecture but the SPARTAN wasn't surprised that the inhabitants from Japan could create such a lively world. The helmet began to crackle. "Sierra one-one-zero, this is Overlord. If you are receiving, acknowledge immediately." Jogging to his helmet, Sebastian put it on swiftly and spoke. "Dark Knight here. Overlord?" "The Syndicate are keeping all entrances sealed up tight. Anti-air resistance is expected. I've previously ordered Echo 426 to drop you off approximately 700 metres over the building." "Why wasn't this explained to me earlier, sir?" Sebastian questioned. "We had to keep it brief. It was only a matter of time before the Syndicate fired that missile to the city of Konni. Knight, make it fast. I want to be home for dinner. Overlord out." Sebastian sighed and sat back down. "SPARTAN, there should be a portable jump-jet in the back. Use it, SPARTAN. It'll be useful." The pilot said. Grabbing one from the extra compartment behind the pilot and put it on. It was a small struggle but Sebastian easily clipped it on. "Housten building in seven clicks. Prepare to drop!" Sebastian ran to the end of the cargo bay and grabbed hold of a handle beside a seat. The opening slowly slid opened and the SPARTAN jumped. Sebastian's weight made gliding through the air fairly easy but the fog made his sight limited. A triangular shape came into view and Sebastian engaged his jet pack. His internally modified reconnaissance pointed out a single armed soldier on the roof's landing pad. The dark knight stopped his jump jets propulsion and landed on the soldier. Now clearly dead with a broken spine, Sebastian got up and began to walk to the blast door. Taking off his large equipment, the SPARTAN grabs something from his many compartments; a black rectangular object sticks it to the back of the pack. Not caring about the pack any more, the SPARTAN throws it to the side of the building. A sudden explosion rocks the building with a large hole through the side of the building. Sebastian heavily kicks the weak blast doors, unknowingly killing four of the soldiers. The SPARTAN began walking to the flight of stairs awaiting him. Jumping down numerous floors, Sebastian grabs hold of a railing a swiftly jumps over it. Another small group of soldiers stood in front of him, armed and taking aim. Quickly, Sebastian snatched his M6S pistol and quickly dispatched the soldiers. Running towards another one of the Syndicate, the SPARTAN grabbed his head and smashes it on the ground. Out of nowhere, two more soldiers surrounded Sebastian on his sides. Incredibly, the SPARTAN already began taking jabs at both of the soldiers' stomachs. Easily, KNIGHT slammed his foot to the side of the left UN-SYNDICATE YUTANI:USER LOGIN PASSWORD REQUIRED:__________GHOST.xxb GHOST.xxb DRIVE ACTIVATES SECURITY PROTOCOLS BYPASSED Dean.kl has been imported to POCKET.dri KILLY.mn has been imported to POCKET.dri SECURITY OVERRIDE ENGAGED PASSWORD REQUIRED:{|Nawnja PASSWORD ACCEPTED' As more technological data began to show up on the blank console, Sebastian planted a C4-A explosive device on one of the blast doors. Simultaneously, the blast door began to pry open faster than expected. Sebastian ran away from the door and detonated the C4-A device. The blast door blew apart nearly the entire room but not managing to destroy the hacked console. Unexpectedly, the computer made a large beep sound. PASSWORD REQUIRED it said. Sebastian typed in the ghost drive's main security bypass code. PASSWORD REQUIRED: POCKET.dri/WEY. Sebastian woke up inside the blood tray of a familiar place. He looks around, hardly surprised that he survived. Excalibur members never die. "Had a nightmare, SPARTAN?" Sebastian suddenly slid to the end of the bay. "Echo?" "Yep! You were falling in free fall. It was probably the most riskiest moment of my life. I was going down ninety degrees. You had a rough landing in my bird." Sebastian got up and ran to the cockpit to speak with Echo 429 directly. "Get us to the Equilibrium! Get me to the frigate Shield." "Sure thing, SPARTAN!" Sebastian's helmet began to make a crackling noise as he held onto a handle next to the pilot. The voice of a woman in her early 30s spoke. "This is Commander Hill. Yes, SPARTAN?" The heavy rain outside made the flight more difficult to hold onto. "Commander! The transmitter has been planted. You are free to fire at will!" The large bridge of the Shield had numerous crew members running to their stations. Commander Hill stared at the planet through the main window as the frigate automatically began to relocate itself. "Copy that, SPARTAN. Keatings! Get our MAC online!" "Yes, ma'am!" "Prepare for an orbital strike!" She yelled. Commander Hill's grim face was one not to bother. The woman had far more experience than most well known officers. If she wasn't at Hao IX, she would be destroying hundreds of Fallen ships. "MAC cannon is charged! At your signal, ma'am." A brief moment of silence obstructed Hill's 'signal' as the frigate finally took aim at the building. "Fire!" A gigantic explosion pushed the frigate back as it sped like a comet to the building. The building was struck, leaving nothing else than a huge pile of debris. Echo 429's Pelican rocked. Sebastian watched as the building crumbled a little more before strapping himself within a seat. "Bring us home, pilot." The bridge of the Shield celebrated their moment of victory upon the Syndicate and Hill smiled. The bridge began to become silent as Hill looked at one of the officers with her hands still confidently behind her back. "Bring us ho—" The ship rocked. Commander Hill nearly tripped and screamed at her crew "Damage report!" "Minor. They're sonic devices hardly scratched us, but it can push us by a mile." "What is attacking us, Hardy?" "Two Syndicate Hal-classes." "Launch guided Archer missiles. Destroy them from behind!" The missiles fired from their pods and charged straight towards the Hal-class ships. Simultaneously the ships fired their sonic technology, the missiles and Shield were pushed back but the Archers continued to target the ships, going over the ships. They fired again but had no effect on the missiles, destroying them both. Commander Hill flicked her hair back behind her ear and acted as if nothing truly happened "Well, that was easy. Rendezvous with the Equilibrium." The frigate turned back and flew fast away from the planet. Chapter 3: In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream... Kaidion Utah 'Vandau stood straight in his seat inside the Phantom. The only other Sangheili within the craft, Dame 'Cedul had shining dark purple armour and cloak made Cedul look like a Supreme Commander, however, he was the Supreme Commander. "I see you are nervous, Kaidion." The Commander said. "Indeed. The reports of the parasite on the vessel makes me anxious whether or not we survive." Cedul walked across the bay keeping his eyes locked at Utah in the eyes. Now literally in his face, the Commander stared "Why were you named Utah?" "My father was saved by a human during the Great Schism. He sworn that he would name his next child after a state of the human's birthplace." "Do you feel lucky that you didn't exist during the time?" "Yes, Commander." Utah lay his head on his chest staring at his feet. "You were named after the place the saviour of your father was born. You dare disgrace your name? The Sangheili will disown you. Stay strong, Kaidion. Your father is a powerful man, don't dare to be like the Unggoy or else your head will be on a silver plate. I was born Dame, the humans call me, Daniel. I favour the name, I don't care if its named after a human." Utah nodded to his Commander as he walked into the cockpit. "Pilot?" Cedul said. "Commander. The human vessel is nearby. Prepare the Kaidion, this is a suicide mission." "An honour-worthy one." The Supreme Commander said as he walked back into the bay. Utah thought about Dame's words carefully. He would not dare to disgrace his family name. This mission could same even more generations of Sangheili from other states. Even if he did die, he would die trying to protect his millions of Sangheili. "Get ready, Kaidion. The human ship is near, parasite activity has been detected." He said grimly, activating his energy sword. The Kaidion and Commander jumped off the Phantom and readied their weapons. Utah's repeater and Cedul's energy sword aimed at the countless corridors of the hangar bay, closed off from space with Huragok-engineered shield technology. "Follow me, Kaidion. The parasite will not leave this ship." The Commander ran into one of the corridors with Utah following him. Their Sangheilian lights led the way far more deeper into the ship. "Commander, how did the parasite infest this ship? Weren't they destroyed at the Ark?" "Yes. They were. Recently, illegal specimens where taken to this ship. The Almighty knows how many humans were on the ship." "I do not care for the humans, my main concern is that what would happen of the Union found out about this?" "The Union already know. The entire Sangheilian species knows about it and the humans' 'Office'. We are keeping secrets from the humans, you wouldn't like to care them do you? Their 'Office' has already covered up the disappearance of this ship. Our mission is to return data to the Sangheilian Union and the 'Office' then destroy it." The Kaidion hesitated as he heard faint sounds of alien screeches behind him, but he chose not to look. "Commander, what exactly are we looking for?" "A human slipspace drive. Its an experimental from the fifty second cycle of this age it however disappeared. We have to take it's power, then use it to destroy it." Utah was slightly confused. How could you possibly take something to deliver, but destroy it before delivering it? "The power we must take. The structure we must destroy." The Kaidion was relieved from the perhaps impossible act. A blue light began to flash from the very end of the massive hallway. "There! The drive. Hurry, Kaidion!" As the light drew closer, the barred metal boards began to scream irritating sounds but the duo continued their crusade. "We're nearly the—" The two fell into a green, disgusting fluid. "Please. Do not tell me we are standing in human waste?" "I'm afraid so, Kaidion. But we must continue, I hope you don't think harmless liquid would block our journey, do you?" The Commander continued from walk in the sewerage while Utah stared into the seemingly endless tunnel. Suddenly, three small objects rise from the sewerage as immediately began charging towards Utah, screeching wordless taunts. "Commander!" he yelled as he fired dozens of plasma bolts into the tunnel. The Commander swiftly turned to see what was happening to his companion. Unwittingly out of instinct, the Commander grabbed Utah and placed himself in front of the Kaidion. "Behind me, Utah!" he yelled before throwing a plasma grenade at the shapeless entities. The objects suddenly submerged as the plasma grenade hit the water. The glowing light didn't last long as the explosion burnt the waste, allowing for more sewerage to fill its place, meaning pulling Utah and Dame. "Utah! Hold something!" something yelled at him. He grabbed hold of a protruding pipe caused by the explosion. Something then began to tackle Utah on his leg. "Gah!" The 'thing' began to cut deep in Utah's skin. The agony of something moving within your body was too much for Utah as he began to fire his repeater into the thick water. The tentacle and object exploded inside Utah's skin. His ankle began to swell up and beat. The heroic Commander stood in front of Utah again and threw him aside. Large forms the size of a human began to lash out on Dame before being ultimately sliced in pieces by Dame's energy sword. The wave ended but more began to charge deeper from the tunnel. "Utah, get to the blast door! I'll be with you in a moment!" Out of nowhere, Dame pulled out a plasma rifle and began to fire while retreating to the nearby door. Utah struggled as his entire body began to ache in pain and fell into the dirty water. Utah saw sudden blue lights and a black figure standing over him. Its hands reached out for Utah until it forcefully grabbed his hand and pulled him back into reality. The next moment, Utah was on his Commander's back running then dropped on a solid surface. A large blast door closed as the Flood charged. As the door closed, the parasites began to bang against it. Cedul began to drag Utah farther away from the blast door before finally setting down in a small room. Dame approached a bench and wiped everything off it. He placed Utah on the bench. Dying, Utah kept suffering the agony but he hid it as he began to pant. "The blood poisoning has reached the lungs. Relax, Utah." Vandau stopped panting and breathed normally. The Commander took a plasma pistol from the back of his utility belt and aimed it against Utah's wound. He began to charge then suddenly he let go of the trigger. The Kaidion screamed as the wound cauterized. Utah began to feel tired and exhausted for no reason and started to close his eyes. Utah suddenly woke up feeling strangely rejuvenated. Commander Cedul was on the opposite side of the room tapping a few controls with a console. As Utah looked around the room Dame walked towards him with his helmet off, revealing his scarred head; his armour was completely covered in green blood. "Mission completed. I'm confirming if the data I secured is real. Our pilot is coming and the humans' 'Office' are firing their primary weapon at maximum velocity. He don't have much time before this ship is blown into pieces." "Commander, what happened?" "You fell unconscious. The blood poisoning began to reach your heart. Desperately I found a solution using my own unstained blood to form a cure in this very room. I only recently found out it was one of the humans' best medical areas." "But if your blood is in me, I am yours." the Kaidion said. Dame looked at him in the eye. "Those stories are not true." He reached back to the console and checked the monitor. "The data I had stolen is true. Let us leave." "Did you destroy the structure?" "The humans' MAC will destroy it." The Sangheili, now sprinting, ran to the hangar. Jumping over their mistakes from before. The Phantom was already docked and the Elite pilot awaited. The duo jumped onto the spacecraft as hundreds more Flood began to jump at them. The ship immediately left the ship at full speed as the vessel was obliterated by the distant MAC cannon in a blink of an eye. Chapter 4: Political Bastard "Did you destroy the parasite?" The Councillor asked, leaning towards the Supreme Commander. The circular hall had many Sangheili covering the wall, sitting in unseen seats. The Councillor stared at Dame 'Cedul. "The parasite was destroyed. The Office had deployed a secret craft to exterminate the threat." "And no other human knows about this?" "None do. Only the Office." The Councillor laid back into his seat and clutched his hands together. There was silence in the hall. Everyone knew that when the Councillor wasn't satisfied, we would clutch his hands for another discussion on the subject. "Are you sure that parasite was absolutely eradicated from the universe?" He slightly raised his tone of voice, making sure 'Cedul heard it loud and clear. 'Cedul looked down briefly then glared at the Councillor with confidence "We discovered spores were around the vessel. That is all." The Coucillor immediately burst out of his seat and punched his hands on the makeshift desk in front of him. "No!" The Councillor started yelling at all the Sangheili by his side. "Put Hades on full private military alert! The Flood must not return!" "Councillor!" Dame yelled. "Quiet, fool! Perhaps you forgot about Rtas' words! Allow me to recite! 'A single Flood spore can destroy a species!'" The Councillor slightly left his spastic attitude and spoke again with the Commander, who growled at him. "Why are you so ill minded, Commander? Why?" The Councillor turned around to argue with his audience. "Why do we choose a gullible brother to lead our armies, our ships, our honor! Think for a moment! If we did not have this discussion, Hades would be overrun. Half of our species would be abominations!" The entire hall fell silent and stared at The Councillor. Tsu 'Teyum breathed heavily from his screaming with his hand still in the air against Dame's actions. "LEAVE!" The entire room scattered except for Dame who was staring at Tsu 'Teyum for his disrespectful manner. not even concentrating on the Sangheili attempting to exit the hall. The Coucillor took his helmet off and stroked his head. Dame slowly began to walk up to Tsu's position. Now at his side, he stood before his superior and leaned towards him in a horrifying intimidating manner. "When I look at you, I feel disgraced; to have you at your damned unworthy place. My mother told me that." Dame returned to his original stance and adjusted his gauntlet. Suddenly, Dame's hand crushed the Councillor's windpipe and held him in front of his face. "How dare you yell at your own brothers!" "It was for our species, imbecile!" Tsu choked. The Commander grabbed his energy sword and activated it before making skim the Councillor's head. "Call me an imbecile again!" Dame stared into Teysum's helpless eyes before slamming him on his own desk and letting him go. The Councillor panted for breathe and laid carefully watching Dame. In a burst of rage, Cedul flipped the desk over and made Tsu fall onto Dame's original standing. Dame walked over him and stomped once, making Tsu spit out blood. "Interfere again, I will have your head." The Commander walked away as the Councillor crawled to his desk to lean on it. Dame finally left the hall and turned to another area. Tsu stood again and kicked his desk. He slowly wiped the blood off his mandibles before walking to the opposite side of the room. He looked around the empty room out of anger and looked at a particular seat. A figure stood and noticed the Coucillor staring at him before walking away. Chapter 5: Hasta La Vista "Are you telling me, SPARTAN. The data from the Syndicate is secure?" Admiral De Costa asked. Sebastian took out a device and held it to the Admiral. "Yes, sir. I've got the intel right here." Sebastian slid the device across the holo-table. The Admiral picked the device up and investigated it before turning back to Sebastian. "Excellent work, Sebastian. Lets see what you downloaded." The Admiral placed the device and stuck it into a port of a large machine. The entire crew of the '"Shield'' and Equilibrium stared at the screen. A face with a hood and a bandanna covering the exact details of the face. The rebel spoke a foreign language no one understood. "ما به شما، دولت را دفن تفاله—" The video suddenly paused and a blue light came bursting out of the holo-table. An AI rose from a grid-like shape on the table and looked around to get a glimpse of everyone staring at her. The AI's appeared as a blonde woman with fine clothing with a logo everyone would know. The asian-like hair and the thin glasses made the AI look like a very intelligent one too. Of course, she was the represented Noble Team. It was Auntie Dot. "Allow me to translate." her digital yet human voice said. The video started all over again and the crew watched the screen again as Auntie Dot dissipated. "We will bury you, government scum! A billion hells await you!" The screen turned off and everyone concentrated on Admiral De Costa for his opinion on the 'matter'. "Amusing. But I'm pretty sure there's something actually useful than the video. It's not your fault, Sebastian. Its just the wrong console." Auntie Dot suddenly appeared again and spoke to the Admiral. "Sir, there are important documents SPARTAN-A110 had downloaded. The video was just being set up for the public message." "Okay then. My apologies, SPARTAN. I didn't realise that the hack would download more than I thought." "It's TX-600, sir. It has all the space it needs." The Admiral nodded and walked away with the rest of the people present in the debriefing. Commander Hill of the Shield remained where the Admiral was. "So SPARTAN. I'm guessing you're wondering how an AI from the Great War would have survived. Especially when she was destroyed along with Noble Team." The AI suddenly appeared in front of Sebastian. "Yes. I was skeptical whether you were interested, but I chose not to." "Auntie Dot was destroyed along with Carter-A259's sacrifice at the Battle of Reach. Luckily, Colonel Urban Holland had kept backups of Auntie Dot. Not entirely legal but we gave no consequence. Because of this, Auntie Dot was the first candidate for a secret program that involved converting 'smart' and 'dumb' AI to our experimental 'intelligent' AI. Of course, the only difference is that 'intelligent' AI have a a lot more buttons and features than a 'smart' AI. Also, they never expire." "Correct, Commander Hill." "Thank you, ma'am. That was useful in a way." Sebastian said. Wondering why the Commander even told him. "She will be your AI, SPARTAN. That's why I just told you that information. She will be replaced by a more 'bitchy' one." The Commander said. Sebastian was slightly alarmed, mainly concerned about having a digital voice be in his ear for nearly the rest of his career. He nodded instead and walked away to the Admiral. "I will be yours in twelve hours, SPARTAN. Prepare." Sebastian began to get worried about this new 'intelligent' Dot. The Admiral looked at a few screens while Sebastian approached him. De Costa suddenly turned and addressed the SPARTAN. "Commander. You need anything?" "Yes, sir. You never informed me of Auntie Dot being my personal AI. Why not?" the Admiral took a quick glance at the holo-table, Auntie Dot and Commander Hill speaking, before looking back at the SPARTAN. "I see Commander Hill had already told you. Yes, Auntie Dot will be yours. I'm quite forgetful." Sebastian didn't understand the somewhat 'valid' reason that the Admiral gave him. He realised the Admiral never gave a reason. "Sebastian, try to act responsibly towards her. She has one hell of a personality." "Yes, sir." Sebastian began to feel like a fool because he was talking to superiors directly in front of everywhere. He suddenly began walking to the armoury as he had the slight feeling that now under Admiral De Costa and Commander Hill's command he'll be using with more advanced weapons. As Sebastian entered the Armoury, there were no soldiers present. Quietly out of curiosity, Sebastian picked up a fairly large weapon. As Sebastian examined it, a soldier entered the armoury. "SPARTAN." Immediately Sebastian put the weapon back in place and looked at the soldier. He was black and almost bald. His cheeks stood out and his facial hair made him look unique. Surprisingly, he was nearly the size of Sebastian. "Sergeant Thaddeus Johnson, former ORION candidate." he put his hand out and shaked Sebastian hand before putting it behind his back with his other hand. "Commander Sebastian-A110. No wonder why you're so tall." Thaddeus smiled and walked to Sebastian's side. He stared at the weapon the SPARTAN was particularly interested his and held it in front of Sebastian. "MA7C Assault Rifle. Light weight. One thousand and two hundred metre range. Nine hundred .30 calibre rounds per minute. This thing packs a punch when it comes to recoil." He handed the weapon over to Sebastian, who now likened the weapon even though he was given little detail. Thaddeus picked up another weapon that looked slightly like the MA7C. "M12 Submachine Gun. Features bullpup. Three hundred and sixty metre range. One thousand .20 calibre rounds per minute. For a guy your size, I think this is the perfect side arm for you." Sebastian grabbed the weapon and briefly looked at it before placing it on his thigh. Thaddeus then finally picked up an iconic looking weapon with no cheek-rest or iron sight and admired it all round. "Now this, is the pride and beauty of the UNSC, SPARTAN. The BR60. Gas operated with a thirty six .37 calibre magazine. One thousand and six hundred metres. Pretty impressive, huh? And I guess you're a fan of the old BR?" "I am, actually. I think I'm going to stick with these." "Nice choice, SPARTAN. I'm going to get to the mess hall. There seems to be a fight. I'll be with you in a few hours." he jogged off out of the armoury while Sebastian watched him. Now favouring his new weapons, Sebastian headed to Cryo Bay 2 and placed his weapons next to his assigned cryo-tube before relaxing and finally sleeping within it. Chapter 6: Rude Awakening Sebastian heard alarms ringing in his ear while he began to rub his eyes. Rudely woken up, Sebastian couldn't be bothered with the prominent freezer burn. As he got up, a black figure began to come into shape holding the cryo-tube hatch open for the supersoldier. "Wake up, SPARTAN. We got a big day today." "Sergeant. What is going on?" "We're being boarded. Sangheilian signatures. Our crew can take care of that but we got to get to that rebel encampment below." Sebastian instantly climbed out of his tube and stood in front of Thaddeus. Questioning whether Thaddeus is a rebel or not, Sebastian held his hand to his earpiece. "I'll have to check that with Admiral—" "That will not be necessary." Thaddeus said. Now Sebastian became suspicious of 'Thaddeus'. The SPARTAN quickly used his helmet interface to identify but it took too long before Sebastian crushed the look-alike's head. The muscular quickly began to fade away as a small, scrawny figure took its place. Sebastian became worried that the Syndicate had already taken all the officers on board and had officially taken the Equilibrium over. Running to the bridge with his weapons, a voice began to crackle in Sebastian's ear "SPARTAN..." "Sir!" "SPARTAN, the Syndicate has boarded us via cloaked imagery through the life pods. They've been launched and there aren't any more boarders but there is a large team of Syndicate still on the ship. They only real crew are held up in the bridge and the cargo bay. Make it quick, they're jamming our—" the connection to Admiral De Costa had cut off and Sebastian muttered cursing words. A voice began to screech in his ear. "I highly recommend you don't curse while I'm active, SPARTAN." "Dammit. No wonder why the Admiral didn't want you." Sebastian spat. The hallways of the Equilibrium remained empty until a marine came out of the corner and called for Sebastian. "Hey, SPAR—" the false soldier faded with another Syndicate body. As he turned a group of hooded rebels turned towards him and immediately began firing their weapons. The bullets hardly damaged his enhanced shield as Sebastian drawn his M12 SMG out and firing at the enemies on his side. The rebels were quickly dispatched as Sebastian continued his crusade to kill the remaining members of the Syndicate. The continuous corners of the Halcyon confused Sebastian until Auntie Dot yelled in his ear again "I've set co-ordinates, you're unlike any other SPARTAN I've served." Sebastian followed the co-ordinates with no comment. He was easily led to the bridge with the co-ordinates, Thaddeus was firing at an empty door. "SPARTAN! Most of the crew evacuated in Pelican drop ships, just you, me and the rest of the ODST team." Both of the SPARTANs stared at a window and looked at each other. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Thaddeus said. Sebastian nodded and both of them ran to the window. Thaddeus grabbed an ODST helmet and Sebastian paused by a console and tapped a few buttons and began sprinting and the screen shining bright red SELF DESTRUCT IN THREE MINUTES. The soldiers hooked up grappling hooks to the bottom of the window and looked back before bursting out of the window. The duo slowly floated in space before tightening their grip on their hooks, smashing into another window. They both rolled and coincidentally ended up at the ODST SOIEVs. They both prepared for the long drop and sat opposite each other. They nodded at each other, the hatches closed and the pods screamed out of the Equilibrium before it blew up in a massive firework. "This is Thaddeus. Set your trajectory to Hao IX, building lot 1927, Sinoviet. We should be able to meet the rest of the crew there." Sebastian became anxious about the long drop but all the excessive running made him exhausted and fell into a slight sleep. Chapter 7: Family Issues Dame walked into the mansion-like building and wondered throughout the decorated house. The many portraits and medals of the Vandau family had been passed on generation to generation, which is why Dame came in the first place. Forerunner artefacts covered the walls: weapons, armour, Utah's father didn't waste his time on the Ark and the Installations. "Utah!" Dame yelled. His voice echoed throughout the house. It was fairly large. The hallways were as long as one of the human's highways but it is expected to see that as there are many wealthy families on Sangheilios. The staircase in front of Dame suddenly began creaking. Utah slowly walked down with his robe on and stopped as he saw Dame. "You woke me up from my sunfall sleep..." "Its urgent, Utah." "Make it quick. My servants have just made dinner, care to join me?" "Of course." the two walked into the kitchen while passing more medallions Dame had never seen before. The kitchen wasn't even a cooking area, more like a dining area. The extremely long table was occupied by many seats on the sides and one at each end. Utah continued walking while Dame treated himself to the closest chair. The servants came with plates in one hand walking with a posture Dame very much enjoyed as he made himself comfortable. Each servant came to each end of the table and lay a large nicely put plate in front of Utah and Dame. The food had green leave-like plant and a squid looking animal, freshly roasted for added flavour. Utah immediately began eating while Dame carefully cut the squid. "I adore the crustacean." "I see." Dame was slightly disgusted with Utah's eating habit but he still had much to learn. Another servant came in with two plates in each hand. They were fairly more smaller that the plates just given but the food in the plate was a white, creamy substance. Utah immediately began focusing on the substance than the squid and got few of his mandibles covered with white. "I have a certain interest in the human's ice cream." "Utah, you must grow up." "You are in my house, you will obey my rules." "You must learn how to control your house!" the two suddenly went quiet and sat back down to continue eating. Dame was disappointed at this young warrior, especially at this time of need when the Councillor probably has an assassin to kill him. "You must learn. No matter the consequences. You wouldn't want me controlling the Vandau State would you? Dame sarcastically dug his fork into the squid and ate it whole. Utah was slightly intimidated but he continued eating, eyeing Dame for the rest of the session. Category:AAO Stories